Research Centre Ancient South Arabia and Northeast Africa
The research centre, currently located at the Faculty of Arts (Friedrich Schiller University Jena), serves as a platform for research projects in the field of ancient Yemen and ancient Northeast Africa. It also coordinates and implements cultural preservation measures in Yemen and Ethiopia in cooperation with the Orient Department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI, Sanaa branch).
Preliminary Reports
Preliminary Report on an inscribed stone from May Omo in the area of Gändäbta, Təgray
by Yohannes Gebreselassie and Gabriala Hailemariam (20 January 2025)
Preliminary report on "A Fragment of a Monumental Inscription at Metera"
by Bruce Dahlgren (13 January 2025)
Preliminary report on the finding context of an Ethio-Sabaean inscription fragment from Melazo, Tigray
by Amanuel Abrha, Addigrat University and Wolbert G.C. Smidt (30 December 2024)
Preliminary report on the archaeological survey carried out in Debreqal, Central Tigray, Ethiopia
by Amanuel Abrha, Addigrat University
(17 February 2024)
Latest publications
T. Gerbothe / J. Jeschke / P. Stein (Hg.), Tempel – Ritus – Kult im Antiken Orient. Forschungssymposion zu Ehren von Norbert Nebes, Sabaica et Æthiopica 3, Wiesbaden 2025
N. Nebes, Regularien für die Kaufleute von Ṣirwāḥ und die Alabastersteinbrüche von al-Maḫdara (Jemen), Sabaica et Æthiopica 2, Wiesbaden 2025
W. Smidt, Non-European Internationality and Oral Geography: Seetzen's encounter with Tigriñña, in: Natalia Bachour / Julia A. Schmidt-Funke / Iris Schröder (eds.), Ulrich Jasper Seetzen Travelling the Middle East, Thematic Section, Mediterranea. International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge 10 (2025), 317–350 (doi: https://doi.org/10.21071/mijtk.v10i.16855)
W. Smidt, Fünf Jahrhunderte deutsch-äthiopischer Beziehungen im geistesgeschichtlichen Kontext, Vom Gralsritter Parzival über eine theologische Neuentdeckung der Welt bis zur modernen Äthiopistik, in: Martin Tamcke / Egbert Schlarb (eds.): Interkulturelle Brückenschläge – Building Intercultural Bridges, Europa – Oriens Christianus – Global, Wiesbaden 2024 (Göttinger Orientforschungen I. Reihe: Syriaca, Hrsg. von Martin Tamcke, Bd. 70), 161-182
W. Smidt, An Amharic inscription on an elephant tusk and its context. The untold history of Emperor Haylä Səllasé's diplomatic networking with European families of Ethiopian descent, in: N. P. Heeßel/V. Tsukanova/M. Waltisberg (Hg.), Der Perlentaucher (FS St. Weninger), Wiesbaden 2024, 357-374
A. Multhoff/P. Stein, Dem Gewaltigen! Der sabäische Hymnus ZI 11, in: : N. P. Heeßel/V. Tsukanova/M. Waltisberg (Hg.), Der Perlentaucher (FS St. Weninger), Wiesbaden 2024, 247-268
N. Nebes, Noch einmal zum sabäischen Götternamen ʾAlmaqah, in: N. P. Heeßel/V. Tsukanova/M. Waltisberg (Hg.), Der Perlentaucher (FS St. Weninger), Wiesbaden 2024, 269-280
W.G.C. Smidt, Ludolf und seine äthiopischen Lehrer in Europa: Der Gelehrte Abba Gorgoryos als Mitbegründer der Äthiopistik als wissenschaftliche Ethnographie, in: A. Ben-Tov/J. Loop/M. Mulsow (ed.), HiobLudolf and Johann Michael Wansleben. Oriental Studies, Politics, and History between Gotha and Africa, 1650-1700. Leiden 2024, 177-237
Announcements
27 Aug 2025, 11 a.m. | Workshop on our current research (program)
Nachruf auf Walter W. Müller, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Mainz. Jahrbuch 2025.
01/04 - 31/05/2025 | Research visit of Mohammed Atbuosh (Université Hassan II de Casablanca, Mohammedia, Morocco), funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation
25 Sept 2024, 11 a.m. | Workshop on our current research (program)
04 July 2024, 11 a.m. | Guest lecture by Yohannes Gebreselassie on the topic: "Gädlä Kaleb: A New Document from the Island Monastery of Däbrä Ṣәyon, Tullu Guddoo, Lake Zway"
31 May 2024 | Digital atlas of Ethiopian cultural artefacts
(press release, FSU Jena) An international team is documenting more than 1,700 archaeological sites in the northern Ethiopian province of Tigray.
(Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, MDR)